Supposed to Be
by unforgretable
Summary: After his grandmother's death, thirteen year old Teddy is sent to live with Remus Lupin, the father he has never met. (AU Remus is alive and never went back to Tonks, Tonks died in the final battle) Father-Son fic
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey everyone! So this story will be a little different- in this version, Remus never went back to Tonks, and has never met Teddy. He is still alive after the final battle Tonks was killed in the final battle, and leaving Teddy to be raised by Andromeda. Harry was never appointed his godfather, so he still knows the Potters and Weasleys, but more as family friends and is not extremely close with them. Just wanted to give you some background! This first chapter will be kind of short, it's more like a prologue. Let me know what you think of it!

Teddy Lupin ran his hands through his sandy hair, which was turning a sickly gray color. It wasn't always so dull, but at the moment, he was in History of Magic, and it was hard to conceal his utter boredom. He wasn't the only one. His best friend, muggle born Jake Ithrum, had a strand of drool slowly pooling on top of his blank parchment as he slept through Professor Binns' lecture. Ellie Cattermole, his other best friend, was painting her nails bright scarlet, with gold sparkles. Professor Binns, if he noticed anything at all, did not seem fazed by his pupils' distraction in the slightest.

Even though Binns was the most boring professor alive (well…not exactly alive), Teddy still envied his ability to keep on teaching despite anything that was going on, betraying no emotion or feeling. Teddy was pretty much an open book. It was pretty hard to hide when your hair color changed with your emotions. Teddy's gran told him that his mother, like him, was a Metamorphmagus, and as she matured, she was able to control her abilities more. And he had an easier time keeping it under control it lately, but it was never quite enough.

He sometimes wished that his mom was still here so that they could complain about it together, entertain each other with the craziest faces they could make, and she could even give him advice about their unique, shared power. It was just a fantasy. Teddy had never met his mom- well, he supposed he had, when he was a baby, but of course he didn't remember it. She had died in the battle of Hogwarts fighting Voldemort's supporters when Teddy was only three weeks old, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother. He knew that his mother was a great hero, and that she was "indispensable to the war effort" but he couldn't help but feel some resentment towards her. What mother leaves her three week old baby at home with granny and goes off to fight in a battle that she didn't know she would come back from? Especially when the kid didn't have a father? He wondered what she must have thought when she left, when she said goodbye to him. Did she know that would be the last time she saw her son?

Teddy shook these thoughts from his head. If he thought about her too much, his hair would start to turn pink, her signature color. That would be quite embarrassing. Seeing his hair pink made his gran really sad. Seeing his hair turn any color made his gran sad, really. It reminded her too much of the daughter she lost. Anyways, it was stupid to dwell on things that he would never find out, and people he would never see.

Suddenly, the door swung open with a loud creak. The students, most of whom were half asleep, were jolted awake by the sudden noise. Jake almost fell out of his chair, and Ellie's gold sparkle nail polish tipped over and spilled onto her wooden desk. Teddy turned to see his favorite Professor, Professor Longbottom, standing in the doorway. Teddy barely had time to wonder what in the world he was doing in the third year's history of magic lesson before Longbottom said, "Mr. Lupin? Come with me please."

The classroom broke out into a chorus of "oooooohh". Teddy slowly rose to his feet, wondering what he could have possibly done, because Longbottom certainly didn't look happy. He swung his bag over his shoulder and followed him out.

"What's going on?" Teddy asked.

"Let's…let's go to my office Ted," Longbottom said, in a softer voice than usual.

"What happened? Is everything all right?"

"I'll explain everything when we get to my office"

"Am I in trouble? Because I don't think I did anything wrong."

"No, Ted."

"Is it because I turned in my snarfalopus plant essay in late? Because I already told you-"

"No, it's not about that"

"Then what?"

They rounded the corner to Longbottom's office, with the nameplate reading:

Professor Neville Longbottom

Head of Gryffindor House

Herbology Professor

Inside, it was clean and bright, with exotic green plants crowded by the window, and something that looked suspiciously like Devil's Snare covering the ceiling. There were a few red, cushy armchairs in front of the desk. Teddy cautioulsy sank into one of the armchairs, his hands sweay from nerves. He felt a bit queasy. Instead of sitting behind the desk like usual, Longbottom spun another armchair around to face him.

"Ted, " he began, "There's really no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it."

Teddy got a strange, sinking feeling in his stomach. Whatever this was about, it wasn't good.

"Your grandmother- your grandmother has been found dead at your cottage. She committed suicide"

Teddy's world collapsed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** **Yay! Another chapter! The last one was more of a prologue; this one's longer and gets more into the story. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorite, and followed! This is my first story, so it means a lot to get some feedback and support! Hope you enjoy this chapter J**

"She _what_?!" Teddy could barely process what Professor Longbottom had told him.

"I'm so sorry Ted," he said. "I'm so sorry"

Teddy felt a lump in his throat and could not speak; he knew if he did, he would start sobbing. As comfortable as he was with his professor, he didn't want to turn into a weeping mess in his office. He knew his hair must be changing colors, but to what color, he did not know. He had never felt anything like this before. He supposed it must be grief, and then pushed the thought out of his head. She's not dead, she can't be dead. After a few minutes of dead shock, he could finally think enough to form words.

"Well... What am I supposed to do?" Teddy asked. "Am I supposed to go home..? Or what?"

"Andromeda never stated in her will who she wants you to live with if she died, so there's a social worker from the ministry who's been assigned to your case, and is going to... Place you somewhere"

Teddy hated being talked about like that. Like he was an object, or just another one of his grandmother's possessions. They had to "place" him somewhere.

"What about the funeral?"

"I've called the wizarding funeral home and they've agreed to take care of it, you will get an owl from them with the information. They usually don't do that, but given the circumstances..."

"Thanks" Teddy mumbled. He didn't know the first thing about funerals- he hadn't been to one since he was less than a month old.

"You've been excused from your classes for the next week, and if you want to go home for a while I can floo you there from my office."

"Ah… okay. I need to get some things to bring with me. I'll be right back."

Teddy didn't know how he was acting so calm. It was if his body was in cruise control, his legs carried him to the marble staircase somehow, and when he reached the Gryffindor common room, he had a weird feeling like he wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten there. He was dazed. And then all of a sudden, Ellie was in front of him.

"Teddy! What happened?" She saw the look on Teddy's face and he expression changed from curious to concerned. "Teddy?"

Then Jake came rushing towards them, with his silly grin on his face. Seeing their Ellie and Teddy's expressions, his smile fell.

"What's going on?" he asked, his voice much lower than usual.

"My gran's dead. She…she committed suicide." Ted couldn't say another word. What he really wanted was to be by himself. That was hard to do when you had four roommates, but he wanted to get home as fast as he could. That was really the only place he wanted to be right now.

"Oh my god- Teddy I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Ellie, her big blue eyes filling up with tears. Teddy looked up at the ceiling, blinking, so that his would go away. He didn't want to cry here.

"Wow- Ted…I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I have to go home for a while and sort things out. Go to the funeral and all that. Figure out where I'm going to stay in the summer. I'll send you guys an owl and let you know everything that's going on. But now I just really need to go."

"Teddy we'll come to the funeral. So let us know when and we'll be there," said Ellie.

"We're always here, man. If you need anything, just let us know okay?" Jake said.

Teddy hugged both of them and walked up the stairs to his dormitory.

The next few days were a blur. Teddy hardly remembered what had even happened. The funeral was just a few days later, and Teddy was thankful that the funeral home was able to plan a lot of it out, and his gran had gotten a few things arranged before she died. Ellie and Jake took the day off classes to come, and so did Professor Longbottom. His mother's old friend Kingsley came, too. Teddy had met him quite a few times, but he was a very busy man, considering he was the Minister of Magic. The Weasleys and the Potters came as well. A few of Andromeda's friends were there, but none of her muggle friends could come, which Teddy thought was kind of sad. Especially after they showed up on his doorstep with casseroles and flowers.

He spent the rest of his time there packing things up and reminiscing about his childhood with gran. She wasn't a very fun, or friendly person. She often disapproved of Teddy's wild ways, he drove her crazy whenever he ran around the house or went out with his hair all different colors. She was depressed practically his whole life. The war, and losing her husband and her daughter changed her. She was quite lonely, other than the times when the muggle neighbors would come over and they would all play cards. Not to mention she was getting old. Sometimes Teddy felt that it was he who was taking care of her instead of the other way around.

Still, she was Teddy's only living family, and they both loved each other very much. She was always there for him. Until now.

A part of Teddy felt a burning anger towards his grandmother. How could she do this to him? How could she leave him, knowing that she was his only family? How could she have a grave plot paid for and a casket picked out in her will, but she couldn't think about where Teddy was supposed to live after she was gone? The other part of Teddy felt bad for thinking such things, and confused too. Wasn't he supposed to be feeling sad, and only thinking about the good things his grandmother had done in her life, paying his respects and all that? He didn't even really know what "paying his respects meant", only that a lot of people at gran's funeral said they were doing that. And yet all he felt was anger and confusion and hurt and loneliness. He would start sobbing at the weirdest times. He decided he wasn't so good at this whole mourning thing.

It was two days after the funeral that he got a knock on the door, and opened it to find a squat witch, with purple cat-eye glasses, and grayish-brown shoulder length hair. She was wearing red robes, which clashed horridly with her glasses.

"Can I help you?" said Teddy.

"_Hello _Teddy!" she said with a bright smile. "May I come in?"

"Er- who are you?" asked Teddy.

"Oh! Sorry! Forgot to introduce myself!" the woman said, laughing to herself. "I'm Matilda Mufforn, I'm the social worker from the Ministry of Magic!"

"Come in, I guess," said Teddy cautiously. There was something that he didn't like about this woman. She was too…cheery.

Teddy brought her to the yellow, wooden kitchen table, and they sat down.

"Teddy is just the cutest name, I love it! Do people ever call you Teddy Bear?" asked Matilda.

Teddy fought hard to keep from rolling his eyes. "People call me Ted, actually," he corrected her. His gran did used to call him Teddy Bear, she was the only one who did. Until he got older and he decided that it was too dorky. But she still called him that sometimes anyways, when he was really sad. It felt weird to hear the old nickname coming out of Matilda's mouth. She said it like she was going to name her new yippy lap dog Teddy Bear or something.

"So, Teddy, I am a _social worker_," she said, as if she was talking to someone foreign, or slow. "Do you know what that means?"

Teddy wanted to retort something snarky back to her, he couldn't stand her treating him like he was in primary school. But he actually didn't really know what that meant, so he kept his mouth shut and shrugged noncommittally.

"It _means_ that my job is to find you a place to live now that your grandmother is…well…." Matilda struggled to find a euphemism for that one.

"Dead?" Teddy supplied.

"Passed on," Matilda corrected him, as if having a nicer phrase for the state his grandmother was in would somehow make the situation nicer.

"And we try to place you with your closest family members first, before looking into other options," she explained.

Teddy knew he was in for "other options", because if she went through his family tree, all she would find was dead people, or people who didn't want anything to do with him.

Before he could ask her what these other options were, she said, "So I've contacted your father-"

"What?"

"Your father, Teddy. He says that he would be willing to take you in. There will have to be a formal hearing in order for him to be able to officially gain custody of you, but that won't be too hard."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Er- your father said that-"

"No, no, I know what you said. It just doesn't make any sense."

Matilda gave him the date and time of the hearing and was off. All the while, Teddy sat in his usual chair at the yellow kitchen table, his mind spinning. His father. He was going to live with his father. He couldn't even wrap his head around that idea. He always knew that he had a father, of course, but he never knew much about him, other that the fact that he left after his mom had gotten pregnant. His gran hated his father, he remembered one time he had asked about him. She went off on a rant, which Teddy didn't remember the details of, saying that he broke his mom's heart, and had abandoned his son, he was "a good for nothing son of a bitch", incapable of responsibility, and a coward. His name was Remus. And that was all he found out. He didn't even know what he looked like.

Gran had burst into tears, and Teddy promised himself that he would never mention him to her again. This guy had obviously caused his family a lot of pain- Gran even said in The Rant that his mom lost her will to live when he left her. And he hurt Teddy too. He grew up without any parents because of him. He wished that his dad had died too, so that he could say both of his parents died like heroes in the war, instead of having a dad that didn't want him.

And now he had to live with him. A total stranger, who had abandoned him before he was even born. Teddy wasn't quite sure he was up for it.


	3. Chapter 3

Teddy returned to Hogwarts, and things went (sort of) back to normal. He had gone to the ministry a week after his return, which was totally pointless. It seemed to be merely a formality in which they assigned full custody of Ted Remus Lupin to Remus John Lupin. He didn't see his father there, which was sort of a relief. He told Ellie and Jake that he was just too pissed at his dad to even look at him, which was only a little part of the truth. The truth was, he was scared out of his mind to meet him. He hadn't heard a single word since then from him, not even a quick owl to say, "I'll pick you up from King's Cross when the train gets in" or anything like that. As much as Teddy wanted to just hate his dad and nothing else, he still wanted his dad to like him. He still wanted his dad to want him. He wouldn't admit that to anyone, of course.

He had been infinitely glad, when he first got back, that there was still a month left of school, a month until the Dreaded Summer with Dad. But the number of days quickly started to dwindle down, and before he knew it, Ted realized that he had to get back on the train _tomorrow._

"Do you think it'll be weird? Living with him?" Jake asked him as they were packing their trunks in their dormitory.

"Of course it'll be weird. I don't even know him."

"I thought that was really strange, why they decided to put you with him. I mean, the guy left you and your mum. And even when your mum died, he still didn't come back. He didn't even wa- sorry. It's not my business," Jake hung his his head, knowing that he'd said too much. Teddy knew that he almost said "He didn't even want you then. "

"Nice save," Teddy said, throwing a Gryffindor scarf at him.

As much as he hated hearing what Jake had said- or, not said- he was always honest. Jake hardly ever thought before he spoke, and tended to be a bit insensitive to people's feelings. Although he knew that this tactlessness was just Jake being himself, and that he often appreciated his best friends honesty, this comment stung a bit.

"I'm sorry, Ted-" Jake paused and turned around as someone opened the door. It was Ellie.

"Hey guys!" The two boys had been shocked the first time Ellie had come up to the boy's dormitory in first year, but it had become such a usual thing that it didn't faze them anymore.

Jake made a fake gasp. "Miss Cattermole, what in Merlin's name are you doing up here?" he impersonated in Headmistress McGonnagall's stern voice.

"I need someplace to drink my firewhiskey," she responed jokingly, lounging on Teddy's bed.

"Five hundred points from Gryffindor, for your tomfoolery, Miss Cattermole!"

Teddy couldn't bring himself to join in with them as their banter continued. His trunk looked like a total mess, despite trying to make it organized. Gran knew a spell that took all of his clothes and placed them in his trunk, in neatly folded stacks. But he could never remember what it was.

Ellie looked over at him after a couple of minutes. "What's wrong Teddy?"

"Nothing."

"Come on," she said, tilting her blonde haired head to the side, giving him a knowing look. "Look, I know you must be nervous about this whole…situation. And I know you're mad at him. But maybe give it a chance, I mean, he did agree to take you in, I'm sure he's not completely heartless."

"And what if he is?" Teddy asked in a smaller voice. He hated being this vulnerable around his friends, but he needed to talk to someone about it.

"Then you go right back to hating him, and you can come and stay with one of us."

Jake nodded. "And you can use that sunflower curse on him if you really need to!"

Teddy smiled, remembering back to the beginning of the year, when Jake cursed Filch's nose to grow sunflowers out of his nostrils.

The end of year feast, like all of the events from the past month, had come and gone too fast for Teddy's liking. Before he knew it, he was stepping off the train, back onto Platform nine and three quarters. He hugged Jake and Ellie goodbye, and Ellie whispered in his ear, "It'll be okay". Jake called after him, "don't forget to write, okay? Both of you!"

Then panic set in with Teddy. Where was he supposed to go? He didn't even know what this guy was supposed to look like. He had never seen pictures of him. He remembered his gran had caught him looking for one, years and years ago, but he never found one. What if he just didn't come? Teddy supposed he would just go back to his gran's house and forget any of this "going to live with your father" crap ever happened. Slowly people trickled off the platform, leaving just a few stragglers heaving their trunks toward the barrier. He began to feel quite awkward, just standing there with his trunk, looking around. He spotted a man in the distance, who seemed to be looking around for someone. He was older, with sandy brown hair. _Maybe that's him_, he thought. He rolled his trunk toward him, and the sandy- haired man seemed to recognize him and walked swiftly in his direction. When he got closer, Teddy saw that his face was scarred, badly, but not so badly that he was disfigured. _What happened to him? _

When they got closer, the man's face broke out into a smile. Teddy did not return it.

"Hi Teddy, I'm Remus Lupin," the man extended his hand. Teddy tentatively shook it. The man-Remus- had the same eyes as him. Amber, with flecks of gold. "Well, I guess you already knew that. Do you need any help with your trunk?"

"No, I've got it." Teddy responded stoically.

As they walked toward the exit, Remus decided to break the awkward silence that had settled between them, "Sorry it took me so long to find you. I thought your hair would be some bright shade like your mother's was. When you were a baby, she told me it was always bright turquoise."

He ran his hands nervously through the short, now sandy brown hair, and replied, "Yeah, it tends to change." He was surprised that his father knew or remembered anything about him, and that he had apparently been talking to his mother after he was born. One thing was for sure- he didn't know the whole story.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here's chapter 4! Hope you like it!

After they has left the station, Remus took Teddy by side- along apparation to his home. Teddy had only done side-along a couple of times before, Gran typically liked to travel by floo. He felt very queasy, and even once the shock of it had worn off, that feeling in his stomach had not gone away. When he opened his eyes he saw a small cottage, not unlike the one he grew up in, with a forest as its backyard. They must have been out in the country quite a ways, Teddy could hardly see a single building on the horizon.

He had a small, cozy looking house. Remus helped Teddy heave his trunk in, and showed him upstairs.

"This is your room, Teddy, I'm sorry it's not much…"

"It's great. Thank you," Teddy replied. He didn't want to seem like he was ungrateful or rude or something. And the room was practically the same size as his room back home.

"We can redecorate it if you would like-"

"No, really, it's great." Teddy managed a smile. "I love blue."

Which was good, considering practically everything in the room was blue, other than the furniture. Teddy remembered how Remus had mentioned his hair being blue all the time when he was a baby, and wondering if that had anything to do with it.

Remus showed him the rest of the house, all the while apologizing for what it apparently lacked. Teddy saw nothing wrong with the house. It was no manor or anything, but it was nice.

"And this is the living room, I'm sorry I don't have a television, I know your grandmother liked to-"

"Remus," Teddy cut in, "It's fine. I really don't care, honestly, stop saying you're sorry for everything!"

"Sorry," Remus replied, and the two smiled at each other, almost like they were going to laugh. "I'll go prepare dinner" he said in a much more businesslike tone, and you can go get unpacked."

Teddy felt weird, putting his clothes into the dresser, like placing them there made this more permanent. Like he wasn't just staying the night, or a few days. It would officially be his "home" for the next few summers. His first impression of Remus Lupin wasn't what he had expected. He had thought that he would hate his father, and part of him wished that he was easier to hate. He had a mild demeanor and an overall pleasantness that did not exactly make Teddy admire, trust, or respect him, but would not let him outright despise the man.

Remus had made chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner, and Teddy thought it looked delicious. In typical Remus fashion, it took a while for Teddy to convince him that it was actually good. They made small talk, which made Teddy quite uneasy. He couldn't just forget everything that happened in the past- but were they going to talk about it ever, or just pretend that it never happened? Instead they talked about the weather, quidditch, school, anything that wouldn't get too close.

"So I know you're a Gryffindor, Teddy- what classes do you like?"

"Well, Professor Longbottom, the Herbology professor, is my favorite, but Transfiguration is the easiest for me to do. It's my favorite subject. What was yours, when you were in school?"

"Yes, I suppose being a metamorphmagus would help you out with Transfiguration quite a bit," said Remus, smiling slightly.

"Or I could just be good at it, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I can change my appearance," said Teddy, defensively.

"Very true. And I liked Defense Against the Dark Arts the best. I don't know if you already knew this or not, but I taught Defense for a year."

"No. I didn't know that."

"So what's your quidditch team?" Remus asked randomly.

"Er- Puddlemere United. You?"

"Same! Puddlemere United. So are you on the house quidditch team?"

"No." For some reason, Teddy didn't want to admit that he enjoyed playing and watching quidditch, but he was completely lousy at it.

"I wasn't either. I love watching it though, I've just always been terrible at it."

"Same. I love going to matches, but I can't really play well."

"You never had a chance!" Remus laughed to himself. "What with my genes and your mother, she was clumsy as all hell, you should have seen her, she was always knocking something over…"

Remus' thoughts drifted to the past. Teddy stared at him. He had been told by gran that his mother was clumsy, and always knocking things over, but it felt different to hear it from Remus. Like it was weird that anyone other than gran would have memories of his mom.

"Did you know that during our wedding she actually tripped while walking down the aisle? We just burst out laughing, in the middle of the wedding, when it's supposed to be all serious. I never knew anyone that could make me laugh the way she could." He gazed off reminiscently, as if he had forgotten that Teddy was right across the table from him. There was a bit of mashed potato dangling from Remus' fork, as if he was going to take a bite, than had lost track of it halfway to his mouth.

"Then why did you leave her?" Teddy asked, his voice low.

This seemed to bring Remus back to Earth. "Excuse me?" he asked, startled.

"You heard me. If she made you laugh like that, then why did you leave her?" Teddy asked again, growing more and more angry. "Look, you can't just sit there and talk about her like you actually loved her, when clearly you didn't give a damn about her! And you can't sit here and ask me what my quidditch team is, when," Teddy paused, an unwelcome lump rising to his throat. "You left her because of me, didn't you?

Remus was completely lost for words.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So many thanks to everyone who read this story! Getting an email from faniction saying that someone favorited, reviewed or followed this story ALWAYS makes my day! J Here's chapter 5 for you!

The end of chapter 4, just to refresh your memory:

"Look, you can't just sit there and talk about her like you actually loved her, when clearly you didn't give a damn about her! And you can't sit here and ask me what my quidditch team is, when," Teddy paused, an unwelcome lump rising to his throat. "You left her because of me, didn't you?

Remus was completely lost for words.

Chapter 5

They stared at each other for a long time. Teddy's eyes watered, but it was like a staring contest- he refused to be the one to look away first. Finally, Remus looked down at his plate of half- eaten mashed potatoes. Then he looked up into Teddy's eyes and spoke a single word. "Yes."

He did not waver in his speech, and he did not whisper.

Teddy, who had been on the edge of his seat while putting Remus on the spot, sank back into his chair. He didn't want to look at Remus anymore. He had trying to make the man feel ashamed for leaving him and his mom, only to have the feeling come right back at him. He felt as if he has been rejected all over again. This time, it wasn't a slow discovery, uncovering the pieces bit by bit. It was a huge wave knocking him down this time. Now, he was the one who was lost for words.

"Teddy, I'm sorry. You wouldn't have wanted me as a father. I knew that you and your mother were better off without me screwing up your lives."

_What kind of answer is that? I'm calling bullshit on this one_, Teddy thought.

"You know, I think it was you _not_ being there that screwed up our lives." Teddy said, defiantly. His voice sounded close to breaking near the end, so he decided to shut up. _You are not going to cry in front of him. You are not going to give him that satisfaction, _he thought_._

"I would have made you outcasts! Hell, I had already made you outcasts! Your grandmother, she was so ashamed that Dora had married someone like… someone like me."

"Someone like you? What is that even supposed to mean?" Teddy asked, now very confused.

"So she never told you I'm a werewolf? Typical Andromeda," he said, shaking his head and laughing a little bit.

"Hey!" Teddy stood up, now heated. "Don't you dare say a word against my-" he paused. "Wait you're a werewolf?" He realized in shock, halfway through his retort.

Remus gave him a sad smile.

"Yes, unfortunately I am. Teddy, you have to understand…things were different back then. There was a lot of prejudice out there. Now, things are starting to get better for people like me, but back then, those were dark times. People could hardly trust their own family members, much less creatures that they had been told all their lives were dangerous. And then there were werewolves like Greyback who gave us all a bad name. I couldn't get a job; whenever people found out about my condition they ran as fast as they could. Everyone except for your mother. By then, I was convinced that I was never going to get married, or, especially, have children. I couldn't risk passing my condition on. God, I was so scared you were going to end up like me. I was terrified. And even though you thankfully didn't, I didn't' want you to have to grow up with me as a father. You would have been so ashamed of me."

"What- just because you're a werewolf? Are you mad? You think that I would rather just not have parents at all? You think I would actually be _ashamed_ of you? What kind of person do you think I am?"

"Teddy, you're very kind. I just don't think I really realized that until I met you. In fact, the thought of meeting you absolutely terrified me. You had the power to confirm all of my worst fears, and remind me of the biggest regret of my life.

"I would have given anything for you when I was younger. Anything. I mean, Gran was wonderful, but it's not the same. I sort of understand, staying away when the war was going on and everything. But what about when my mum died? I think that changes things a bit. Were you just a coward? Or was everything Gran said about you true?"

"I can't imagine your grandmother said anything particularly nice about me, she always wanted me gone. When it comes to you, I confess- I am a coward. I can face Voldemort and Death eaters no problem, I can go through a painful transformation into a wolf once a month, and I can withstand the ridicule and prejudice of other wizards. But I cannot, for the life of me, face my own son."

"Well…are you okay with me being here now?"

"Yes, I am. I do want to get to know you better, Teddy."

"Then," Teddy paused, a little nervous, "Maybe we can try to start over."

"I would like that very much," said Remus, grinning.


End file.
